Full Speed Ahead

St. Mary’s-Stockton began the season as the #1 girls team in the nation, and it wasn’t even a debate. It still isn’t.

  By MARK TENNIS | Special to SportStars
  With as many preseason-No. 1 ranking features being written on this year’s girls basketball team at St. Mary’s-Stockton, it can be a challenge for players to become complacent.

  For one senior at St. Mary’s, 6-foot shooting forward Kat Tudor, she likes to remind herself of what to do each day by placing her championship ring from last season on a desk in her room.

  “When you get rings like that, it makes you want another one,” she said. “We’re still on a high from winning state, but we’ve still got to walk in the gym every day and get the job done.”

  The Rams definitely got the job done last season as they went 34-1 and knocked off favored Mater Dei-Santa Ana 76-69 in the CIF Open Division State Championship.

  The team’s only loss came to Blackman-Murfreesboro (Tenn.) at the Nike Tournament of Champions held in Chandler, Ariz. Mater Dei actually won that title, so for St. Mary’s to beat the Monarchs in the Open Division with a lineup that’s almost 100 percent back this season makes the team an easy choice as preseason No. 1 for the state as well as leading mythical national title contenders.

  Even though the Rams have won eight CIF state titles (seven under current head coach Tom Gonsalves), this is the first time they’re coming off an Open Division state title, and they have more returning talent than perhaps any team they’ve ever had.

  “We’re just so fortunate we’re so deep, but we don’t ever talk about winning period,” Gonsalves said at a conditioning workout for most of the players in late October. “We just practice every day to play at a certain level. There’s no way they can rest on anything.”

  Point guard Mi’Cole Cayton was the team’s lone finalist to be Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year as a junior, but just selecting her over teammates such as Tudor and Aquira DeCosta was very difficult.

  Cayton has been a stat stuffer since the middle of her sophomore season but is one of those players who doesn’t have to score to make a huge impact. Her assists, steals and rebounds often lead the team. She also was MVP of the San Diego Classic held in July when a team of St. Mary’s girls won their fourth straight club championship.

  Tudor, who has committed to Oregon State, begins her senior year with 301 career 3-pointers and has a chance to threaten the school and state record (according to Cal-Hi Sports) of 447 set in 2005 by Renee Roberts. She was firing in 3-pointers as a freshman, but the reason she became a Pac-12 recruit is the work she put in to become stronger, quicker and faster.

  DeCosta is at another level among all the St. Mary’s players and should end her prep career alongside Ms. Basketball State Players of the Year such as Jackie Gemelos and Chelsea Gray. The 6-foot-3 sophomore and last season’s State Freshman of the Year played on the USA Under-16 national team last summer and eventually was ranked as the No. 1 player nationally for the Class of 2018 by ESPN-W. Her list of college finalists, once she figures it out, will likely read like a who’s who of major powerhouse programs.

  Even with those three, one of the real trademarks of this group is the ability juniors Sierra Smith and Naje’ Murray  to use their speed and quickness to drive the lane, force defenses to collapse and then kick it outside to one of the many 3-point shooters. Smith is ranked as the nation’s 15th best point guard in the Class of 2017 by ESPN-W. Murray is likely going to get many college offers next year as well.

  “People ask, and I tell them, we really do have 11 players who will be Division I in college,” Gonsalves said. “These girls just have so much athleticism to go with everything they do.”

  An additional senior — 6-foot forward Sidney Fadal — has signed with nearby Pacific while senior Angel Johnson, who is only 5-foot-9 but is one of the team’s most intense interior defenders and rebounders, also could get some college interest.

  It’s not like the Rams don’t have new players, too. Freshmen Nicole Young (5-9 guard) and Jada Moss (5-8 forward) were impressive in the summer while Raziya Potter is a 5-foot-10 sophomore transfer from Kimball-Tracy who was one of the state’s top freshmen last season.

  It’s all that depth that has many other coaches looking on in amazement.

  “Normally, one could hope maybe an injury could slow them down, but they have kids that just might do more damage when they get their opportunity,” said Miramonte-Orinda coach Kelly Sopak, whose team lost to St. Mary’s in last year’s NorCal Open Division final and could be the Rams’ top competition in the North once again. “The thing that impresses the most about this SMS team is that they put so much stress on your defense. They have great point guards that can score in Cayton and Murray, they have the best shooter in the country in Tudor and the most athletic kid on the floor every night in DeCosta.”

  Sopak, who coaches Tudor and DeCosta for his AAU national-champion CalStars club team, also calls this year’s St. Mary’s team “one of the most talented” he has seen in his years as a club and high school coach. He added, “The only team I have coached against that could beat them is probably the 2009-10 team (also from St. Mary’s).”

  Potter’s introduction to the intense practices, constant full-court pressure and attention to detail that permeate Gonsalves’ program hasn’t been too hard for her to adjust to because she’s known some of the players for many years.

  “So far, so good,” she said at a recent workout. “I’ve just been trying to build up my stamina because of how we play and how we practice. But the main reason I came here was the education. I’m excited to be here and can’t wait to get into a game.”

  It’s likely Potter will be getting into her first game coming off the bench, but Gonsalves surprisingly left the door open for any of his new players to see significant playing time.

  “We have all five starters back, but I’m not convinced yet which five are going to start this year,” he said. “If there’s someone who doesn’t want it bad enough, we have someone next who may. I don’t care who plays the most. I just want those who deserve it.”

  Whether the Rams can be No. 1 in the nation can be more tricky and always open for debate, but if they were to win the Nike TOC title and then win a second straight CIF Open Division title it would be hard to argue for any other team.

  Mark Tennis is the co-founder of Cal-Hi Sports, and publisher of CalHiSports.com. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter, @CalHiSports.